José Ramón Andrés Puerta, known as José Andrés to foodies around the world, is a renowned force in gastronomy and humanitarian spaces. After training at the Escola de Restauració i Hostalatge in Barcelona and working at El Bulli under Ferran Adrià, he served in the military and was a cook for the admiral during his service. In 1991, he immigrated to the United States, bringing tapas culture to American tables with his first Washington D.C.–based restaurant, Jaleo, in 1993. Today, his company, José Andrés Group operates over 30 restaurants around the world, spanning fast-casual, high-end dining, and food halls in cities like New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, The Bahamas, and more. Andrés’s uncompromising approach earned him two Michelin stars at minibar in D.C., which deconstructs American classics and reimagines them through a modern, Spanish lens.
Beyond gastronomy, Andrés is a relentless humanitarian. In 2010, he founded the nonprofit World Central Kitchen, which has since served more than 500 million meals in disaster zones around the globe—from Haiti and Puerto Rico to Ukraine. Just after opening Oyamel in New York City earlier this spring, Whitewall spoke with Andrés about bringing simple solutions and a taste of his homeland to people around the world.
Portrait of José Andrés by Josh Telles.
Courtesy of José Andrés Group.
WHITEWALL: You are regarded for bringing a taste of Spanish cuisine to America, to the world. How does that feel?
JOSÉ ANDRÉS: When Jaleo opened more than 30 years ago, I dreamed of bringing real Spanish cooking to America. Not just the food, but the feeling—that joy of gathering around the table and sharing tapas. And today, when many people have tasted croquetas and gambas al ajillo and paella, I can look back and say that my team and I have played a part in that.
“When Jaleo opened more than 30 years ago, I dreamed of bringing real Spanish cooking to America,”
José Andrés
WW: With that responsibility, what did you want to embrace and share about your culture and its cuisine?
JA: The land of my birth, Asturias, is a beautiful, ancient kingdom between the mountains and the sea. If you want the natural beauty of both mountains and oceans—and great food—you need to plan a vacation to this tiny corner of Spain. You are always within a short drive of the Cantabrian Sea to the north, and in sight of the Picos de Europa, a stunning mountain range that’s just as amazing as the Alps or the Rockies. How could you not be inspired when you have incredible seafood on the coast, apples and cider from the orchards, and cheeses from the mountains? That is why, together with my friends at Capital One, we created a very special way for people who love to eat and love to travel as much as I do, to experience Asturias like a local.
Recipes tell the story of the people who cooked and ate a particular dish, so every dish has a story. I never think I am just opening a restaurant when I create my menus. Each restaurant is filled with the many stories of the people behind those dishes, their histories and cultures and lives.
Celebrating Asturias with Capital One
Asturias; Courtesy of José Andrés Group.
WW: A few years ago, you began that partnership with Capital One, and most recently brought a special group of cardholders to Asturias to experience some of your culture’s traditions. What’s special about this kind of collaboration with Capital One?
JA: I’m not only doing these trips with them, but I’m curating some of the Capital One lounges in airports—helping curate stories and food. We have one open, and another one coming soon. It was a no-brainer. It’s technically work, but it’s fun. Throughout my life, I’ve been bringing a lot of people to Spain for fun. Now this is a way for them to take care of some of their most loyal people—who also happen to be some of my most loyal people in my restaurants, even if I’ve never met them. And now I’m connected with them in airports, too. They put on a great event, and I curate the best I can by taking them to new places that maybe they’ve never had time to visit before. Coming to Spain is like a party, and the issue is that you only have so many days and can only go to so many places.
WW: Tell us a bit about Asturias, the region you’re from, and how that influences your approach to your work—to cuisine at large. How would you describe the food there?
JA: Asturias cooking is from a rough region—cold winter, a lot of rain. Asturias cooking is cooking with the hands or with a spoon. There’s a lot of seafood, and even pork and ribs that you will sometimes find grilled—people of Asturias love to eat that with their hands, too. There are steel spoons because of the weather, and a lot of bean dishes. In the winter, there’s Fabada Asturiano, with beans, potatoes, and the green tops of the first turnips of the season when they’re young, green, and tender. Asturias is one-pot cooking, and that’s something I like, so that’s what I try to bring to my concepts. Asturias is cooking of the caves. It’s a celebration of the mountains and how they use the mountains and the caves to ripen different types of cheeses. It’s something that comes from centuries and centuries, and still remains today. Now, there is better technology, and you can use industrial fridges, but nothing beats putting those cheeses in the cave.
Leading the Way with World Central Kitchen
Casa Gerardo, Jose Andres, La Huertona, Asturias, Capital One, photo by Daniel Lee. Courtesy of José Andrés Group.
WW: You also spearhead World Central Kitchen, which is 15 years old now. Your culinary work and your humanitarian work are very intertwined. How do you view the role of chefs in moments of emergency? Your own role in these moments?
JA: This went from an idea to something more real and more structured, but it’s still a very loose, adapting-to-the-situation kind of thing. If we ever follow the same pattern, it might stop the success. But I don’t think chefs need to feel any more pressure than just running the restaurants. The truth is that my profession has always been one of the most generous. The profession of a chef has been unbelievably generous, beyond what they’re supposed to do—from helping farmers to helping others to donating food or time in soup kitchens or hospitals. Getting school lunches better in the school system. Chefs have big hearts, in that sense. I took the role of going and doing this because I felt it was the right thing to do, and I felt I was good at doing it. It fulfilled my personal needs of helping others in moments of crisis.
“Chefs have big hearts,”
José Andrés
It’s been happening for centuries, so not like it hasn’t been done before—the Red Cross has done it, so have smaller guys like churches. There have always been good Samaritans. But what we’ve done since has been very big events. And we’ve done it with results. We don’t announce anything, but we’re there. We’re everywhere. We’ve shown that we have become the best at doing it because we highly specialize in that. We’re not trying to be everything. Some organizations try to be everything, and they can’t. We know you need to specialize in something, and we specialize in food.
Sidra El Gobernador, Asturias, Capital One, photo by Daniel Lee; Courtesy of José Andrés Group.
